Medical equipment, particularly operating room equipment, must be kept in a sterile condition. While many surgical instruments can be removed from the operating room after each procedure to be cleaned and sterilized, large or sensitive instruments, equipment and operating room fixtures cannot be easily moved. For example, devices such as surgical lamps cannot be removed from the operating room after each procedure. These devices, however, are in constant use and must be sterilized after each procedure. The handles of the lamps are of special concern because they receive substantial use both during and between procedures. Lamp handles are typically generally cylindrical projections with a conical skirt. The conical skirt provides insulation from the heat generated by the lamp, a resting point for the hand for increased leverage when adjusting the position of the lamp and a stop to prevent the hand from sliding beyond the handle where it might contact other portions of the lamp structure.
In the past, surgical lamps have been sterilized between procedures by first spraying the device with an antiseptic solution and then covering the handles with a sterile cover. These covers are then disposed after each use. Examples of such covers include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,976,299 issued to Bickelman and 4,605,124 issued to Sandel et al. These patents disclose disposable covers for light handles composed of a flexible plastic or rubber. The covers are molded to conform closely to the handle, including the conical skirt.
One difficulty associated with such covers is that they are typically held in place with adhesives. After repeated uses, however, the handle becomes unusable due to the buildup of adhesive residue and must be replaced. Alternatively, the cover may be made to closely conform to the shape of the handle and so as to be held in place by friction. In order to remain securely attached, however, the cover must so closely conform to the handle that application and removal of the cover may be difficult. Also, the conical skirt portion of the handle, while providing insulation and leverage, provides an additional surface for contamination, thus increasing the complexity of the disinfecting process. If the circular skirt portion were eliminated, however, the skirt portion of a typical disposable cover would be too thin and flexible to provide the desired insulation, leverage and hand stop functions. Furthermore, disposable covers are typically made of relatively non-resilient materials and, as such, may only be used on handles of a particular size. Because handles come in a variety of sizes, a variety of different sized handle covers must be provided. This increases the manufacturing cost of such covers, as different molds must be made for each size of handle cover. Hospital procedures are also complicated by the need to track and maintain inventory of multiple cover sizes.
Alternatively, the entire handle may be disposed of and replaced after each use, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,288 issued to Reasner. This approach, however, is more costly as the portion being replaced, rather than being a thin plastic cover, is instead a rigid structural element of the lamp. Furthermore, the manufacturing of such a device is more costly as it requires complex molds and molding processes.